Mobilize yourself for one of the best deals in town tonight at the People's Improv Theater (more commonly known as "the PIT"). Every Wednesday night, all shows from 6pm until midnight are 100% gratis. The slate of performers is killer; the evening kicks off with the theater's house improv teams: The Wilhelm, Vacation Island, Fancy Dragon (named, incidentally, for a sushi dish at the place downstairs from the theater, where they'll give you a discount if you mention the PIT), Big Black Car (featuring Kristen Schaal of Flight of the Conchords and Ugly Betty), Sid Viscous, and the Baldwins. It's a gut-busting sucker punch of silliness, and the Wilhelm and Vacation Island are particularly interesting to watch, as they are the newest additions to the theater's cadre of regulars. The other groups are excellent, but each of them has a particular tone that's been honed over time, whereas the new groups are still learning each others' rhythms...right before your very eyes. It's exciting and raw in a way that most venues would shy away from.

I recommend the Faculty in particular; this group of the theater's elder statespeople is really spectacular in terms of creating improv that transcends simple "cleverness" and achieves something singular. The Faculty focus intently on character and setting, and the result is richly-layered scenes that you don't want to end. I prefer it to the similarly hilarious but frequently hyperactive fare of Assssscat 3000, Upright Citizens Brigade's roughly equivalent show featuring their veteran performers. The Faculty's scenarios play out a bit more gradually, but the gratification is intoxicating.

No less noteworthy is Wide Eyed Productions' latest assault on the classics: an updated staging of Much Ado About Nothing in the deliciously dank basement space at the Gene Frankel Theater.  I've not seen it yet, but director Kristin Skye Hoffman recently rocked houses with her Medea (also with Wide Eyed), and early reviews of Much Ado are equally glowing.

Get live, my peoples! 

(press photo for "Much Ado About Nothing" from TheaterMania)